NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on NTAP. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Argus raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

NetApp Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $161.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $31.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.34, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. NetApp has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $192.83. The business’s 50 day moving average is $154.15 and its 200 day moving average is $120.98.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.92, for a total value of $170,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,349,283.24. This trade represents a 3.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $458,060,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $374,549,000 after buying an additional 2,046,912 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 378.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,329,475 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $136,125,000 after buying an additional 1,051,863 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in NetApp by 94.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,823,292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $215,987,000 after buying an additional 886,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter worth approximately $89,977,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.